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People in Bratsk petition Kremlin over pollution from forest fires

By 0 and 0 and 0
23 September 2016

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'Fires in Ust-Kut and Katanga are producing smoke in the city. Of course, people do not feel comfortable.' Picture: Sevirk.ru

Pictures show the pall of smoke in Bratsk, a city of a quarter of a million people and one of the worst-hit places from a September upsurge in first fires. Irkutsk region forestry minister Sergey Sheverda said: 'Fires in Ust-Kut and Katanga are producing smoke in the city. Of course, people do not feel comfortable.'

Firefighters say half a dozen wildfires in Bratsk district are adding to the problem. More than 600 people are deployed on putting out the fires along with 123 units of equipment and four helicopters. 

Map


Bratsk

'The weather is hot, and there is a strong smell of burning and smoke. It is not possible to open windows, we cannot go out because we soon feel dizziness...' Pictures: The Siberian Times, Sevirk.ru

But so far more than 3,000 residents have signed a petition to President Vladimir Putin and Emergencies' Minister Vladimir Puchkov on website Change.org under the headline 'City of Bratsk is choking from smoke!'

'For one month we are suffocating from the smoke,' the petition reads. 'The weather is hot, and there is a strong smell of burning and smoke. It is not possible to open windows, we cannot go out because we soon feel dizziness... 

'Some adults and children are in hospital with severe carbon monoxide poisoning. We are for clean air! We want to breathe. We have that right. Do not remain indifferent to our health and our future!' 

Bratsk


Bratsk


Bratsk

We are for clean air! We want to breathe. We have that right. Do not remain indifferent to our health and our future!' Pictures: BST TV

Local deputies have called for firefighting planes to be deployed to put out the fires. Oleg Popov, the deputy of the Bratsk city council told: 'There is a lot of smoke in the city any we do not see any military aircraft.'

Our earlier story ‘Oil pipes threatened by forest fires amid disputes over the scale of destruction’ shows from satellite images the scale of the wildfires across Siberia. 

Comments (3)

спасибо, ED (I hope I have said Thank you in Russian properly). I have signed the petition and I hope it will be considered by President Putin even if it does not reach the official 100,000 number. Thank you for helping me find the Russian petition site. I have registered and now have an account.
Pamela Tetarenko, League City, USA
25/09/2016 03:39
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It's russian site with petitions. Petition called "Bratsk wants to breathe the air"
http://www.onlinepetition.ru/bratsk/petition.html

According to the law, any appeal from citizens with 100 thousand or more signatures, must necessarily be considered
ED, Russia
24/09/2016 21:07
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Здравствуйте, I would also like to sign your petition seeking help for Bratsk. I have tried to search on Change.org but have not located it yet. Would it be possible to post a link? Thank you for bringing this to the world's attention.
Pamela Tetarenko, League City, USA
24/09/2016 17:57
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